The Winter Palace
(on Delerium Street in East Paradise)

BEYOND GLOSSOP

cats eyes?
beacons that light a roadside?

Snake Pass
midnight
winter

not cats'
but eyes of sheep
headlight-reflected pins

the dark shape
seen too late
squeal of brakes
crash of glass
a dying ewe bleats
silently

splinters of glass
from a broken headlamp
mix with mutton blood

the wind howls
the mountain streams cascade
there is no moon above the mist
there are no lights now

all is frozen

GERALD ENGLAND